All patients received SSRI antidepressant and either « augmenting agent » or placebo.

The trial period was six weeks, during which the patients were monitored for changes in depressive symptoms using the MADRS.

The economic analysis is based only on direct costs of treatment.

The analytic approach includes decision analysis, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit techniques, and a sensitivity analysis.

Results

The economic analysis was performed on both the intention-to-treat population and the per-protocol population.

Intention-to-treat and per-protocol results show that the direct cost of six weeks'treatment with the combination of « augmenting agent » and SSRI antidepressant, if the acceleration effect is taken into account, was more cost effective than the SSRI antidepressant and placebo.

Conclusion

The direct costs of treatment are higher than those of previous pharmacoeconomic studies, but the rate of onset of antidepressant action must be taken into account. (...)